Retired ONE YEAR

Today is Reflection Day as it is exactly one year ago today that we retired from our 30+ year teaching careers. Radeen and I have zero regrets for departing our careers early at the age of 55 and getting on with our sailing and cruising dreams. Here is a summary of year Number One...

Jan 28, 2011, We retire and sign our paperwork, exiting our careers and entering into a new life...

Feb: Road Trip to Florida via car, with friends & family, to pre-explore harbors and towns

 
March: New York City, upper west side condo with Radeen's family

April: Caribbean Sailing aboard Larking About IP40, Spanish Virgin Islands

May: At home, working on house to prepare for our great house sitter, Ned, to move in

June: Sail Bermuda to Maryland on Larking About, IP40

July/Aug: Island Spirit IP35 Sailing Maryland to Maine for Island Packet Rendezvous in Boothbay.

Aug: Out ran Hurricane Irene NY to MD, return to home slip and prep boat for the storm!

Sept: Prepare boat for ICW south and Bahamas trip #1, including engine overhaul

Oct/Nov: Intracoastal Waterway Southbound for Harbour Cay Club, Marathon, FL Keys

Dec-Jan: Marathon, FL, Living at Harbor Cay Club, Capt Jim's great marina/home.

Jan: West Coast of Florida Explorations

Year Number One of our retirement is complete and we feel blessed to be able to live out a lifetime planned dream of traveling and sailing. We are nearly in the mid point of our current adventure as we will head for the Bahamas in March and April, exploring the Abacos. Then in the springtime, we will head north up the ICW returning to the Chesapeake Bay in June 2012. At that point, we most likely will head for BLOCK ISLAND, RI for the summer of 2012. Then we will return to the Chesapeake Bay and plan our next leg south. Thank you, everyone, for following our blog and for sharing our dreams...we are blessed....

Island Packet Friends

One of the best aspects of cruising is friends.... traveling with friends, meeting new friends and re-connecting with old friends. Today's digital world also provides the opportunity to form and maintain many "pen-pal" friendships via the Island Packet E-mail list. It is wonderful when we actually meet those digital friends in person. Here's a sample of our valued friendships from the month of January!

Margery, (where's Jeff?)  Capt Jim and Michele, Hayden and Radeen, Keith and Blanca

Michelle & Capt Jim, IP-29, Fortuna
Keith and Blanca, IP-31 True Love, at Harbour Cay Club, Marathon, FL

Craig and Debbie, former owners of IP-440 Charmed

Bobbi, Debbie, Radeen, Pat and Mary Ann from
Catspaw, Charmed, Island Spirit, Cutter Loose and CAVU

Eric, IP-460 Cutter Loose, and Craig talking about generators

Ron, Hayden and Carey from
CAVU, Island Spirit, and Catspaw

Hayden with Art, IP-32 Lagniappe
Our IP List expert on 12 volt and electrical topics

Alan, Carey, William, Ron, Eric, and Hayden of IPs:
Flatlander, Catspaw, Optimystique, CAVU, Cutter Loose, Island Spirit

Patricia, Radeen, Kathy, Mary Ann, Judy, and Bobbi of IPs:
Cutter Loose, Island Spirit, Flatlander, CAVU, Optimystique, Catspaw

 

 

 

Our new dolphin friend accompanied us into Pelican Bay's emerald waters.

 

 

We hope to share more anchorages and meet more Island Packet Friends as we continue with year one of our life aboard! Thank you for sharing the joy of cruising and IP ownership....

Ft. Myers Beach to Pelican Bay, FL

Ft. Myers Beach, FL

Ft. Myers Beach is a very interesting west coast Florida town with the most beautiful white sand beach. The Gulf of Mexico is calm when the wind is not blowing hard, so there are only little waves. This provides the opportunity for para-sailing and jet skiing right off the beach. The local boaters also anchor their boats there and swim or walk to shore to enjoy beach bars and all-day live music. Welcome to Ft. Myers Beach! During spring break, this place loads up with college crowds.

Hayden and Art aboard Island Spirit
enjoying a toast after the 12 volt seminar

While in Ft. Myers Beach we had the special opportunity to connect with our Island Packet list member, Art R., IP 32 Lagniappe,who is always so helpful to IP members with 12 volt wiring, design, and installations. Art drove 2+ hours to spend the day teaching us about 12 volt systems and electrical issues. His presentation was very informative and so impressive with printed bound handouts, PowerPoint slides, and hands on experiments. We really enjoyed our learning and sharing fascinating stories with Art. Thank you, ART R.!

Craig and Debbie join Island Spirit for a great visit

Not able to hide any better, our other IP friends, Debbie and Craig R. found us in the harbor as they arrived via their Harley Ultra Classic motorcycle. Debbie and Craig had an IP440 and traveled with us in 2008 when we were in Florida for our Drexel studies. We drove north up the ICW and shared their signature dessert, flan, in many harbors together! They astonished us this trip with flan, delivered safely on the bike!

Craig helped me with an improvement for my solar wiring addition and gave me a Harley ride to the West Marine and back that was one to remember. Debbie visited with Radeen and they really enjoyed their chats and sharing. What great friends!

The "Pack of Packets" pressing on into Pine Island Sound

After 4 busy days in Ft. Myers Beach we move on north to Pine Island Sound where we stopped 2 hours short of our destination to experience Cabbage Key and the great cheeseburgers in paradise. The local dollar bar there is amazing with over 50,000 one dollar bills nailed to the walls and ceilings. After lunch the 4 IPs pulled up anchors, and move into Pelican Bay off the State Park, CAYO COSTA. We enjoyed a lively cocktail hour aboard IP-420 Flatlander with Allen and Kathy H. with their friends Bill and Sue, IP-40, Florida Buoy. We plan to stay here a few days and take in the beautiful beach and isolated state park, accessible only by boat.

The Beach at Ft. Myers Beach, these FL people know how to have FUN

Dollar Bar at Cabbage Key, Pine Island Sound, FL.

We are really enjoying this West Coast of Florida as it provides so many harbors, great towns like Marco Island, and Ft. Myers, and beautiful sandy beaches. We can now see why Charlotte Harbor is a base for so many cruising sailboats. We need to explore this area more....for today, we will start with the Cayo Costa State Park Beaches!

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